Improvement in propelling canal-boats



`UNITEn STATEs PATENT OEEicE.

HARRISON B. MEECH, OF`FORTVEDWA'RD, EVV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROPELLING CANAL-BOATS.

Specification forming partof Letters Patent No. 112,369, dated March 7, 1871 antedated February 25,1871.

certain new and useful Improvements in the Mode of Applying Power to Canal Tug-Boats or other vessels; and d o hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the l accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in drawing the water from both bows to a converging point in the bottom or hold of a vessel, to be propelled by means of two propeller-screws, or other equivalent devices, which shall bcv so placed in a channel orwater-way, which increases in diameter toward the stern, and connectin g with two apertures leading to the bows, and which shall, by the rapid revolution of the said screws` and the pitch or the obliqgityg their blades,`drive the water thus drawin with a forceto the rear greater than ,hat with which it entered the bows of the vessel. f

.Inorderto enable others skilledin the art towhich my invention appertains to make and usethe same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operatiomreferring to the annexed drawing, which forms a part of this specication, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the hull of a cay `nal-boat, with the tube in the bottom thereof, a portion" of said tube being broken away,

showing the propeller-wheel within the same. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, showing the openings into the tube.

A represents the hull of a canal tug-boat,Y

in the bottom of which is placed the tube B, which increases in" size toward the stern, and which opens into thewater at the stern. A suitabledistance from the bows of the boat the tube B branches or divides, so asto havean opening` into the water on each bow. When the boatis immersed in the water the tube B will, of course, be filled with water. l

The propeller-wheel O is so placed in the .main channel B that it shall be at the confinence of the converging inductions B B from the bows of the vessel, and be ready to receive whatever impact of water it may get, and transmit it to the rear by its revolution with a force equivalent to the pitch of its blades multiplied by the number of times they revolve in a given time. The receiving of the water upon one or the other of the blades equalizes the bearing of the wheel in its axle and in creases its speedy and effective action.

Supplementary to the wheel O is another propelling device, F, fixed on the same axle,

and placed near the stern of the vessel and through the gearing E on the shaft D by machinery inside the boat. As the propellerwheels 4C and F are turned the waterv in the tube is forced back to the stern against the outer water, and the boat is moved forward, and at the same time, as the water in the tube is forced back, the water from the bows of the boat rushes in to take its place, relieving the pressure of the water from the bow of the boat, which gives additional power to draw the boat forward. By relieving the pressure of the water at the bow it draws the water to the center of the canal and prevents the boat from swelling the water outwardly and washing the banks of the canal. The tube B being divided and opening on bows equalizes the pressure, or rather the relief of the pressure, on both sides of the boat at the bows.

Although this device is mainly intended for tug-boats Aused on canals, it may be applied to otherv boats or vessels." For canal tug-boats it possesses the following important advantages over the old method of a wheel in the open water:

The wheel has more power in a tube than "in open water; the direct pushing power ol' the water in the tube on the water at the stern of the boat 5 taking away the pressure of the Water from the boW of the boat, which of it- In testimony that I claim the foregoing I self Will tend to draw the boat forward. have hereunto set nay/hand this 26th day of Having thus fully described my invention, July, 1870. what I claim its new, and. desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The tube B, in combination with the induc- Witnesses:

F. LEHMANN, CHARLES H. FOWLER.

HARRISON B. MEECH.

tions B B and Wheels C and F, constructed and operating substantially as set forth. 

